The present invention relates to a stable mirror mount for use with optical systems, and more particularly for use with laser technology.
It is extremely important to provide proper optical alignment for a mirror assembly which is to be used with a laser. A mirror assembly for use with lasers must necessarily be quite stable after appropriate alignment with the laser beam, for the reason that any misalignment can have severe adverse effects on the laser beam itself and in addition on the propagation of the laser beam.
A problem with prior art mirror mount approaches is that there generally is required a single alignment locking requirement for each axis of orientation. For instance, in order to lock prior art mirror mount assemblies in an X-Y axis orientation, generally it is required that the X-axis be aligned and locked separately from the Y-axis. This approach is described, for example, in U. S. Pat. No. 3,511,462.
Another problem with prior art approaches is that for a mirror mount assembly that is desirably compact in design, there generally has not been a capability of providing simultaneous locking of an X-Y axis orientation while in addition providing sufficient "mass" to provide for even further improved stability in supporting a mirror for use with laser technology.